


the pretty lies, the ugly truth

by les_jupiter



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Gen, author is projecting again, character dream is the worst and I hate him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27989142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/les_jupiter/pseuds/les_jupiter
Summary: Tommy was used to not being a priority.Based on the events of tommy's December 9th streamTitle from Teen Idle by Marina
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Kudos: 33





	the pretty lies, the ugly truth

Tommy was used to not being a priority.

It was no secret he wasn’t the favorite child. Why would he be? He was the annoying one, the gremlin child who caused problems. It’s not like Phil disliked him or anything, but when he never checked up on him, when he never visited Tommy even once during his exile, it was clear. And it hurt. More than he’d like to admit. But it was fine. 

But he thought that maybe, just maybe, his  _ friends _ would show up. That he would be their priority. But he was wrong again.

The one upside to this was that Dream was being ever so slightly nicer to him than usual. He got to keep his armor another day. It was clearly out of pity, but as much as he loathed being pitied, he couldn’t bring himself to confront his masked companion about it. He was the only one who showed up, after all, and Tommy couldn’t bear to be alone again.

He glanced at the sun setting over the coastal horizon, laying a blanket of red light over the sleeping landscape. Far too pretty for his current mood. The salty smell of the ocean mixed with that of the partially-eaten cake on the table.

“Dream, no one’s here.” Tommy said, more of a question than anything.  _ Why did they not show up? _

Dream just shrugged. “I don't know why. What I’m most surprised about is that Tubbo isn’t here, even though he said he was gonna be.” 

Tommy clenched his fists. “Why is no one here? They promised they’d be here, Dream. Everyone knew about it. Wilbur even told Tubbo in person, did you know that?” He knew the anger was rising in his voice, but he didn’t care. He had a pretty damn good reason to be angry.

“I know, I was there when he told him. Most other people were left invitations, so I don’t know how they could have missed those.” The unspoken truth of the statement was clear.  _ They knew they were invited, they just didn’t come.  _

“And you’re the only one who showed up?”

“I mean, I was late, but yeah.” The combination of his level voice and mask devoid of emotion made him unreadable.

Tommy clenched his jaw, rage coiling in the pit of his stomach like a venomous snake. “No one cares about me anymore. No one.” The volume of his words grew with each syllable. Dream protested, but his words didn’t reach Tommy’s ears.

“None of them showed up. And it’s the one thing, the one, that they had to do for me, after exiling me and fucking me over, not one of them came with me! None of them care, because I’m not in L’Manburg anymore. Because I’m not the vice-president. I’m not stupid, I know how society works.” As the words fell almost involuntarily from his mouth, he paced away from the beach, silently cursing the grains of sand that dug into his feet. His throat burned and his heart sped. 

“How does it work, Tommy?” Dream said, tone bordering on but not entirely mocking.

“Well, have you noticed that now that no power anymore, everyone has fucking left me? They’ve left me! They don’t care.” The words practically burned into his skin, scorching hot and malicious. 

He couldn’t help but be reminded of the first time he was exiled. Back when the threat of L’Manburg being taken from him felt so terrifying, like the world would end if he was unable to go back. Back when Wilbur asked him if he wanted to be the villain of his story, when he had declared that he was a slow-burning fuse.

When he told Tommy that everyone he knew was lying to him, that he couldn’t trust them.

He really should have listened.

\- - -

Tommy practically threw down the borrowed netherite pickaxe, his arms sore from physical exertion. Before him lay a narrow bridge, haphazardly crafted from spare logs. If they really wanted to visit, they would make the effort.

Dream picked up the pickaxe, putting it into his inventory. “So, did you hear about Tubbo’s compass?” 

Tommy froze, whipping around and making eye contact with the expressionless mask. “What do you mean?”

“I’m pretty sure he burned it. Or lost it. I don’t know. Either way, he doesn’t have it anymore.” 

Tommy stepped back, hands shaking. Thoughts rushed through his head like river currents. Tubbo had a compass. Tubbo’s compass probably pointed to him. Tubbo had burned it. 

Tommy marched towards the nether portal, willing the tears welling his eyes to go away. He felt like such an idiot for keeping his compass in his ender chest, right next to the discs, for treating it like the most precious thing he owned. Because if Tubbo wanted to play like this, that was fine. He was perfectly capable of fighting fire with fire. 

“What do you think, Dream?” He turned to the man who was following behind, treading on the grass path he had laid in case visitors wanted to find his house. What a waste of time that was.

“I’m not sure. I’m just as confused as you. I thought at least some people would come.”

Tommy unbolted his ender chest. His hands and legs felt like they moved on their own as he picked up the compass and walked back to the nether, to the obsidian bridge and the pool of lava he’d become quite acquainted with. 

“He burned it?” He asked. “On purpose?”

“I think so.”

“You know what?” Tommy took a half-step back, compass in his hand. He raised it over the lava, ignored the smoke in his lungs and the voice in his head that screeched for him to stop.

The thing about Tommy was that he cared too deeply about things. He was attached to things. He started wars over discs, gave up two of his lives for L’manberg, stood with Wilbur until the very end. But now his discs were gone, L’manberg was two thousand blocks away, and Wilbur was dead. You would have thought that Tommy would have learned by now.

But Tubbo threw a compass and their friendship into the fire.

His grip loosened.

A hand on his shoulder pulled him back. “Why don’t you sleep on this, Tommy? Don’t do anything you can’t take back.” 

Tommy sighed as he took another step back.

“I don’t sleep anymore, Dream.”

\- - -

It was the day after the party. He wasn’t bothering to clean up the decorations, and Dream had already left, so he didn’t have much to do except stare out at the sunset from the beach. His back was pressed against a rock and his hands were in his lap, holding the compass. 

He had thought about it. He still wanted to destroy it. 

But everytime he went through the portal, everytime he hovered it above the lava, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. 

He watched the needle of the compass move every so slightly. He wondered if Tubbo was watching the sunset at the same time.

Despite all the anger he had felt yesterday, emptiness was all that was left. It was as if a forest fire had burned through him and left him to sift through the ashes.

He had thought he was angry at Tubbo. But now he realized he was just angry at himself. I mean, Tubbo shouldn’t have burnt the compass like that, but Tommy didn’t blame him. If he were Tubbo, he wouldn’t want any more reminders of him either. 

Tommy closed his eyes and listened to the waves sweeping over the sand. 

He wasn’t used to being so lonely. Even when he was exiled the first time, he still had Wilbur. He still had somebody.

Now it was Tommy against the world.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Drink water <3


End file.
